The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

Given that Bitcoin isn't a legal currency, and given that it doesn't use the banking system in any manner, is the use of Bitcoin the way to be able to play online poker in the US? That seems to be what several poker sites are thinking and while they might even be right in a strict legal sense I don't think they will be for long.

Hajduk, though, was barely fazed. Calgary-based Infiniti Poker, like several other new online gambling sites, plans to accept Bitcoin when it launches later this month. The online currency may allow American gamblers to avoid running afoul of complex U.S. laws that prevent businesses from knowingly accepting money transfers for Internet gambling purposes. “Because we’re using Bitcoin, we’re not using U.S. banks—it’s all peer-to-peer,” Hajduk says. “I don’t believe we’ll be doing anything wrong.”

I'm entirely willing to believe that this is entirely true in a strict legal sense. However, I'm a great deal less convinced that it's going to work in any long term manner. For I don't see the great campaign against online poker as actually being based on any real logic in the first place. And as such, I don't see the authorities reacting kindly to such a flouting of their expressed wishes.

I've never actually understood why adult Americans aren't allowed to gamble their money online. It's not as if gambling itself, or poker, or even losing money, is illegal across the US. There are plenty of places where you are allowed, nay encouraged, to do this. But given that laws have been passed to make it illegal I don't think that those tasked with closing it down are going ignore those who think they have found a loophole. As an analogy, just look at the Federal reactions to medical marijuana, however legal that might be under local of State law.

It's a depressing though but one I do hold. That even if using Bitcoin to play online poker is entirely legal the authorities are likely to strain and strive to find some reason why they can still disrupt it. And given the number of laws at their disposal, I'm sure they'll be able to find something.